My third open-mic stand-up performance
I lost my place for a few seconds, but otherwise, I think, improving.
While I hope to improve my skills at making people laugh, my long-term goal is to develop more social and emotional skills of leadership, as I teach and coach my students and clients. I live and practice what I teach and coach.
I’m doing this to
- Face and overcome anxiety
- Empathize with people
- Find and express universal sentiments that we know but don’t express
- Allow myself to be vulnerable with an audience
- Learn to read a room
- And so on
Comedians find ways to say what others can’t, which I consider important. I intend to develop that skill too.
I think many people dream of at least trying an open-mic performance once but a small fraction of them do it. I’ve felt the tug for a while, certainly since the incredible learning experience of acting and improv classes.
I wasn’t going to let myself be someone who always thought about it but never did it. Once I started, I sensed the value to public performance and wasn’t going to pass on the chance to learn.
![Joshua Spodek performing stand-up](https://i0.wp.com/joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/open-mic_youtube.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Joshua Spodek performing stand-up
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